Straight talk for graduates and parents

DennisMiller

Dennis Miller is the author of “Retirement Reboot”, a book chronicling his
own journey to save his retirement in a low yield, turbulent investing
environment. He works with some of the country’s top investment managers,
authors and analysts to tackle the financial challenges faced by today’s
retirees. Working with analysts at Casey Research, Dennis created "Miller’s
Money Forever," a newsletter that provides retirees, and those soon to be
retired, with actionable recommendations on how to prepare a retirement
portfolio. Prior to retiring in 2008 Dennis ran a successful consulting business
and authored several books on sales management. He was also a regular
contributor to the American Management Association and an active international
lecturer for 40 years. Find more of Dennis’ columns and reports at
millersmoney.com or contact him at
dennis@millersmoney.com..

If there is one generational difference between today's retirees and young folks graduating this month, it's that they bought into the myth that a college degree guarantees instant success.

In order to bridge that gap, I'd like to share a few timely lessons with the class of '13. If there's a graduate in your life — a child, grandchild, niece or nephew — please pass the message along.

Graduates, go to your personal trophy case and throw out all the awards you got for "participation." Participating in life does not pay well, not nearly well enough to pay off your student loans. Second, forget your personal grade point average. If you have not noticed, it does not appear on your diploma.

For those who are members of the "just enough to get by" club, I did not just suggest a free pass; quite the contrary. The lessons you should be learning are how to do your best and thrive in a competitive environment.

Take a look at the large number of students who drop out of a business statistics class because it's too hard or they don't want to hurt their GPA. Employers want the guy who took on the challenge, worked the hardest, and maybe got a C.

I had several engineering firms as clients that built relationships with engineering professors and regularly recruited on college campuses. Their chief complaint was that professors always touted the engineer with the highest GPA. They didn't understand that the ideal candidate was an engineer who may have had to work his way through college with a part-time job, made time for student activities, and still found a way to do a good job in the classroom.

Once you have thrown away all your participation medals, what is left? Hopefully you have several that say "first place," "second place," or "third place." It makes no difference if those awards were for athletics, band competition, or the debate team. Those are the important ones.

Life is a competition, and if you want to be successful, you have to achieve, not merely participate. Unlearn all the "fairness" garbage educators tried to force into your brain.

If you are a recent graduate and are un(der)employed, here is your challenge. The job market is based on the law of supply and demand. If there were a great demand for jobs in your educational field, you would already have one. There is an oversupply of candidates, and demand is low. Waiting for things to "open up" is dangerously shortsighted. You may be well into your 30s before demand in your field opens up again.

Get a job — any job — at the company you want to work for. From there, you can do two things. First, do a phenomenal job at whatever you are hired to do. Second, let the personnel department know what job you really want, and that you'd like to be considered when an opening becomes available.

If you're waiting for your dream job to appear in the "Wanted" ads, you're going to be waiting a very long time. That job won't be on Craigslist either; the guy sweeping the company's floors or handing out the mail will beat you to it.

Talkin' 'bout my generation

Now that I've said my piece, I'll briefly turn my attention back to you, my peers. Our sons, daughters, and grandchildren face a tough reality in the modern workforce. An entire generation seems to believe that if you just check off all the right boxes, careers, promotions, and money will magically appear. We know that's simply not true. Success is hard earned.

A similar myth has pervaded our own generation; the idea that if you put in your dues, the government will uphold its end of the bargain, providing a decent base for retirement through Social Security and Medicare. Well, that's simply not true either.

Our retirement health is in our hands, and most of the basic assumptions about investing have been upended. Just as it's time for the youth of America to buckle down, learn a business and build a career, we need to ask ourselves whether we've really given retirement planning the careful attention it deserves.

Money tips for graduates

(3:38)

Chuck Jaffe with money tips for graduates that he'd give to his own daughters. Photo: Getty Images.

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use.
Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information. Intraday data
delayed per exchange requirements. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM) from Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
All quotes are in local exchange time. Real time last sale data provided by NASDAQ. More
information on NASDAQ traded symbols and their current financial status. Intraday
data delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, and 20 minutes for other exchanges. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM)
from Dow Jones & Company, Inc. SEHK intraday data is provided by SIX Financial Information and is
at least 60-minutes delayed. All quotes are in local exchange time.